Xinzhou City Tower

Xinzhou City Tower

Xinzhou City Tower is a historic site reflecting the architectural style of Ming Dynasty. Located in the north gate of Xinzhou old city. It was first built in the 24th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1596); there were four gates in Xinzhou City, all of which were built with towers, only the North Gate Tower existed alone. The tower is three stories high, 17 meters, seven rooms wide, four rooms deep, three drops of water and the top of the hill. Under the eaves hung the plaque of "lock key in northern Shanxi". There are no columns in the building, the beam structure is simple, and the connection is strict, which fully reflects the wisdom of the ancient Chinese working people. The whole tower, with red pillars and blue tiles, painted pillars and carved beams, is magnificent and spectacular, which has a high value of cultural relics protection. It belongs to the cultural relics protection unit of Shanxi Province.

The origin of the name

Xinzhou City, called Xiurong in ancient times, is located on the way from Taiyuan to Wutai Mountain. It is the residence of Xinzhou administrative office and local Party committee. In the spring and Autumn period, Xinzhou belonged to the state of Jin, returned to Zhao in the Warring States period, and belonged to Taiyuan County, Yanmen county and Taiping County in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Sui Dynasty is the new capital and Yanmen. It was Dingxiang County of Xinzhou in Tang, Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, and Xinzhou, daizhou and baodezhou in Jin, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early years of the Republic of China, it was Yanmen road. Xinzhou City has a common name with pictographic significance and legendary color, called "woniu city". It is said that the city is high in the West and low in the East. It is built along the slope. From afar, it looks yellow and vast. It looks like a big ox lying on the east side. One side is as convex as a bow, which looks like the back of a lying ox. the orderly battlements on the top of the city wall are like the back of an ox.

building structure

Xinzhou North Gate building was founded in the 24th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty. The building is located on the 12 meter high city wall, which is even more towering. majestic. In Xinzhou City, although there are gates in the East, West, North and south, the North Gate Tower is the character connotation and symbol of "Crouching cow". The battlements around the top of the wall are very elegant, with double eaves and three drops of water. The layout of the building is reasonable, and the idea is exquisite. The shape is majestic and magnificent. Although it has been more than 100 years, it is as majestic as it was then. It is like an elegant lady. Although she is old, her noble body still shows the high-rise architectural style and exquisite modeling realm of the Qing Dynasty. The city wall is towering, painted with vermilion outside, and the entrance to the gate is built below. The top of the gate is very high. The bottom is more than 3 meters wide. On both sides of the city wall, there are brick steps, which zigzag to the top of the wall. The top of the wall is surrounded by a brick Gallery, and the middle part is the upper floor. The gatehouse is 7 rooms wide and 4 rooms deep. Under the eaves of three floors, there are 22 red pillars around. Wooden balustrade is set between the pillars on the two floors. There are no columns in the building, the beam structure is simple, and the connection is strict. It is the only high-rise timber structure building in the city.

Textual research on history

Xinzhou North Gate building was founded in the 24th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. In this overhaul, Yu jideng, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, specially wrote an article "rebuilding Xinzhou City". The article begins: "Xinzhou in ancient times for Yangqu, external control of cloud Valley, covering the whole province, the most important. And the terrain is flat and broad, without mountains and rivers for the barrier, Lu Lan, with the city as the guard, the city only built soil for it, easy to collapse. In Jiajing period, Lu wusui did not fight against each other. When Xin father and his sons were trampling, they built bricks and stones to protect their eyes. The devastated people did not serve as officials, and the officials did not see them. They recovered from the captivity, and the harassment intensified. For more than 20 years, there was no base in the suburbs, no city in the state, no defense in the city, and no change in the walls to wait for the city. " From this, we can see that the main reasons for the construction of the city are the increasing invasion of the enemy, the decadence and collapse of the earth city wall, the "suffering of the times" of the people, and the "recovery of the peaceful prisoners". Who are the advocates? According to the article, "the governor of bingshen in Wanli, Duke Wei of Zhongcheng (Yunzhen), was very happy. He was very anxious to ask the Lord to judge the wealth, the degree of nobility and the amount of funds. He and the Duke of the governor's office should cooperate to hear about it. It is clear that Wei Yunzhen, the advocator, instructs the "master" to draw up the funding plan for repairing the city first, and then report it to the superior department for permission and support.

Historical records

According to the relevant information, "the promotion and implementation of wall brick wrapping is closely related to the wide use of cannons, which was popularized in the Ming Dynasty after the Yuan Dynasty" (see "exploration of Xinzhou City"). Huang triple, deep two Zhang, wide more than Zhang. Four gates were built, East "Yinghui" was renamed "Gongchen"; three traces of the God in the northeast corner were preserved, and the rest were only one. The north and South gates were all related to Xiang Zhuying. Good fortresses and pavilions are everywhere. Who is not lucky to have nothing to do? The administration of the officials followed, the scholars and the people practiced and simplified the military, and the battlefield was peaceful and peaceful. In the middle of the building

magnificent. The planning week of the last construction, with its large scale, large cost, large number of people, long duration, high quality and beautiful shape, surpasses the first one in any way, which is unmatched in the past. Besides Wei Yunzhen, the governor of Shanxi Province, there are Jia Yijing, the Tongzhi of Taiyuan Prefecture, Zhao Menglin, the tianzhudian history and jingle official of Lan county, Qiu Yunsheng, the governor of Xinzhou County, Cao Ruhong, the county governor of Qingyuan County, Zhao Yan and Zhou Shi, the general managers of Taiyuan Prefecture, and Zhang Yaoxing, the governor of Xinzhou Prefecture. In the history of Xinzhou City Tower's origin, the story of rebuilding the city wall said: "in the 28th year of Jiajing period, we built the cutting wall, added the enemy platform, and repaired the battlements"; Yu jideng said in the story of rebuilding the city wall: "in the 24th year of Wanli period, bricks and stones were used to build the battlements"; in addition, Wei Yunzhen, who was inspecting Shanxi Province at that time, wrote "Yuexin gongnanlou Jixing", which poem said: "the sun is lighter and the wind is brighter, who is the generous person to climb the tower Same as. Thousands of peaks are heaped with blood and Hushen is clean, hundreds of pheasants are linked with clouds and the Han Dynasty guards the male. Since ancient times, the art of war has been both advantageous and advantageous, and people's stratagems have also borrowed from their masterpieces. There is no other way for Ding Ning to be a governor, but to protect him from the aftermath. " Hou Zhenghu, a scholar of the same period, wrote a book named "He Zhongcheng Wei Gong Yue Xin Gong Nan Lou Ji Xing Yun Yun", which said: "the story city depends on the sky wind, and the sky is the same. In the west, even Qin fortress danger, cloud mountain north arch map male. Jiuyuan peak fire shape is strong, Sanjin pass river regime change work. The Muma river is clear, and Hu and Qi are no longer able to ride. Who can be more successful with Rong? "

Xinzhou tower was built in Ming Dynasty. However, this kind of city building in Ming Dynasty is only "Lou Lu", also known as "Wanglou". It is used as a lookout target for defense and garrison, and its shape is relatively simple. The existing tower was built by Tongzhi. It was decorated on the upper part of the watchtower to make the structure complex and beautiful. From the top, it looks like a bird flapping its wings. From the bottom, the eaves are bright and colorful.

Brick arch

China's brick arch construction technology to the yuan and Ming Dynasties has been popular, the top of the city gate from the past wooden structure development

When it comes to masonry structure, its span is obviously widened, and its shape is more standard and beautiful. At the bottom of Xinzhou North City Gate building, there is an arched door opening. The top of the opening is wide and spacious, and the bottom is more than 3 meters wide. The traffic is convenient and deep. There are smooth and flat bluestone steps on both sides. The door leaves are wrapped in iron and riveted tightly. It is loud when starting. It is divided into front and back two buildings. The inner side of the city gate is paved with steps to climb up and zigzag to the Yuantou, so as to meet the needs of war and climb. The battlements around the top of the wall are very elegant and exquisite, and the stone road is specially for passing through, forming a coordinated and corresponding whole with the building body. The gatehouse has a width of 7 rooms and a depth of 4 rooms. It has a colorful outline, all of which are installed with precious wood. Double eaves, three drops of water, Xieshan style roof. There are 22 huge columns under the eaves of the third floor. There are wooden railings between the columns of the upper two floors. There are no columns in the building. The beam structure is simple and compact. It is the only high-rise wooden structure building in the city. The layout of the whole building is reasonable, the design is exquisite, and the building is magnificent. Although it has been more than a hundred years, its prestige has not been reduced, which fully shows the style and exquisite artistic attainments of high-rise buildings in Qing Dynasty.

Three door design

The other three gates, namely the south gate, the east gate and the west gate, have the same external shape, architectural structure, carving design and window lattice installation as the north gate. There are four gates, the front archery tower (this building is usually of masonry structure with narrow doors and windows) and the back archery tower, which are paired and look at each other. Each of the eight buildings stands in the sky, competing with each other, such as the kite flying, flying in the air, elegant and spectacular, full of scenery. According to the inscriptions on the plaques, the North Gate "Jinbei Suoyue" is the gateway of Taiyuan, which summarizes Xinzhou's dangerous and difficult position; the South Gate "three passes" is the overview of Xinzhou's remote control of three passes, which is backed by the strong connection; the west gate "nine peaks" points out that Xinzhou's Western Hills are staggered, tall and straight, the scenery is beautiful and magnificent; the East Gate "double flow" is the key It is pointed out that the east of Xincheng is surrounded by two rivers, one is the Muma River, the other is the Yunzhong River, and the other is the confluence of the two rivers. The four gate plaques are rich in location, scenery, dynamic scenery and static scenery. They are profound and thought-provoking.

historical significance

Under the eaves of the top floor of the city gate, a striking plaque is hung high, with four large characters in relief: "the key to the north of Shanxi". According to the preface to the annals published in the sixth year of Guangxu, "Xinjun is the gateway to the north of Jinyang road." Therefore, the text of later generations says that Xinzhou is "the key to protect Taiyuan". The image and accuracy of "lock key in northern Shanxi" lies in the metaphor that this gatehouse is a giant lock key in northern Shanxi: appease the people, resist the enemy, lock the enemy when they come, and open the enemy when they retreat. In the south, it is close to Shiling and Chitang, in the north, it is close to Xinkou and Yunzhong, and it is the rear vassal of the whole Jin Dynasty. He is the traffic hub. Dingxiang and jingle are separated from the East and the West. Ningwu and Yanmen are surrounded by mountains and arches. They are not only the three barriers, but also the four fortresses. There are only two ways to describe SHANGUAN pass: one is the conjunction of Shanhaiguan Pass: "there is no match for the key of the two capitals, the first pass of the Great Wall"; the other is the plaque "North Shanxi key" on the North Tower of Xinzhou. However, the mountain customs also underwent artificial repair and processing, and Xinzhou is purely natural landscape, more rare. wall